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Suicidal man gunned down by police

Police detectives stood vigil outside the home in the 4000 block of Bay Drive in Bowleys Quarters awaiting the medical examiner's office after a call for help went terribly wrong.

The female caller reported a male inside that home had attempted suicide by taking a large quantity of pills.

When officers entered the home and attempted to talk the man into going to the hospital, he refused.

"Officers attempted to use a Taser to bring the subject under control however that Taser was ineffective,” said Cpl. John Wachter of the Baltimore County Police Department, “The male then reached into a kitchen drawer and grabbed several knives and advanced on the officers with those knives."

At that point, officers tried for a second time to tase the man, but when that didn't stop him, three of them fired their service-issued weapons killing him.

Police say they had no choice, but to seek help for the man even if he wanted nothing to do with it.

"As police officers, we have a responsibility that when someone is clearly demonstrating that they want to hurt themselves or someone else that we take that person to a medical facility to get some help," said Wachter.

The officers who fired on the man will now be placed on routine administrative status while the incident is reviewed, and they will have to be cleared by a psychologist before they can return to service.

At this point, police have not identified the man, but they say he was in his early fifties, and the person who originally called for help from that house was his girlfriend.